Cantor Fitzgerald Boosts Equity Trading Staff By 20%

Cantor Fitzgerald & Co. continues to build out its equity trading desk as part of an effort to transform itself from a big bond brokerage to a full-service investment bank.

The privately held firm has increased its equity division headcount by 20% in the last year, now numbering approximately 400 traders and analysts globally, and could increase its staff by another 25%, or 100 people globally, CEO Shawn Matthews said in an interview today.

It is expanding product lines too, including a recently launched trading desk for exchange-traded funds.

The firm is also looking to expand its two-year-old equities business overseas, nearing a deal to acquire a brokerage firm in Ireland, Matthews said. He didn’t identify the firm.

Cantor is trying to re-create a style of business that disappeared over the years as the bulge-bracket Wall Street banks tightened their grip on stock trading by snapping up smaller brokerages….